heroic verse

American  

noun

1. a form of verse adapted to the treatment of heroic or exalted themes: in classical poetry, dactylic hexameter; in English and German, iambic pentameter; and in French, the Alexandrine. An example of heroic verse is

   Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring / Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess, sing!

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heroic verse British  

noun

1. prosody a type of verse suitable for epic or heroic subjects, such as the classical hexameter, the French Alexandrine, or the English iambic pentameter

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Etymology

Origin of heroic verse

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

Of course, Lipsyte doesn’t provide a single word of of this life-changing, ruthless, heroic verse.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 11, 2019

He is no mere jongleur or Cantatore da Banca, but a new Sir Tristram, celebrating in heroic verse the valorous deeds and amorous emotions of which he had himself partaken.

From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by Symonds, John Addington

It will be observed that while Shakspere's heroic verse is usually fairly regular, with not very many run-on lines, it yet differs in quality from that of satires.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald

Since the middle of the 17th century, when heroic verse became the typical and for a while almost the solitary form in which serious English poetry was written, its history has known many vicissitudes.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various

It might, indeed, be employed as against that old heresy, not even yet entirely discarded, that smoothness of heroic verse was the invention of Waller.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald